Ian Gillan and His First Band Announce Debut Album

Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan announced details of Ian Gillan and the Javelins, the album he recorded with his first band 54 years after they originally split up.

He had joined the group as a teenager in the early ‘60s and played local concerts before members went their separate ways.

“The guys in the band, most of them tickled along at the occasional gig and they practiced, but most of them haven't really played in any progressive way for 50 years or more," Gillan recently told Kaaos TV (via Blabbermouth). "Because they hadn't played professionally for 50 years, they didn't evolve at all — they kept playing in the style which was in 1962, and consequently, when I'm listening to it, I think, 'My God! This is so authentic. It sounds just exactly as it did in those days.' It’s not musicians from today trying to do a retro version of those songs, which I've heard plenty of. … There's no breathing space, no nothing. It sounds, to me, just as I remember it.”

You can watch a lyric video for their cover of “Do You Love Me” below.

Confirming a release date of Aug. 31, record label earMusic note the Javelins "paved the way for the Ian Gillan who, only a few years later, wrote music history with Deep Purple, becoming one of the most iconic frontmen of all time and, together with very few others, shaped rock music the way we know it today. Avoiding the use of any modern technology, the band has managed to find the spontaneity and true sense of freedom of pop and rock and roll music of 50 years ago, probably without completely realizing it themselves. … This album is what happened during four days of recordings in a studio in Hamburg, Germany, where instruments, microphones, lyrics sheets and memories were the only tools allowed. …This is where it all started.”